 |
| The assault of technology obviously failed to completely subvert the traditional mechanical watch. |
PLAYGROUND OF THE MIND
FUTURE SHOCK
Sometime in the seventies, Alvin Toffler wrote a book by that title to describe the situation where people would feel that technological progress was so swift that people couldn’t handle it. No one would have the time to get used to the present benefits of technological progress before it became
obsolete.
“The illiterate of the 21st century will not be those who cannot read and write, but those who cannot learn, unlearn, and relearn.” – Alvin Toffler
Before we go berserk and panic, let me limit the subject to watches. What else? Sometime last week, I engaged Carl, my editor-in-chief in a brief discussion about the status of the watch industry, and I felt that a major change in the entire industry was due, or overdue, and has been for some time.
The watch industry as a whole is on a roll, raking in more and more profits as watches become popular and affordable on one end, and astronomically expensive and wastefully extravagant on the other end. But is it progress? Last year, Tourbillons were the rage of the Basel show. The Tourbillon will remain the most fascinating complication of mechanical watches and a visually stunning work of mechanical art. The sheer complexity and achievement of miniature handmade mechanisms are one of the true great complications in watch-making. Wait a minute! The tourbillon was invented in 1795! Modern computer-aided- machining has made the tourbillon, and other mechanical complications extremely reliable and available more than ever before, never mind that the watches are limited-edition runs, or re-runs. Is there anything really new?
For the sake of discussion, let us assume that the mechanical watch is very close to the end of the road regarding its development. A more improved spring mechanism is still a spring mechanism. A mechanical watch can only have more and more parts, not less and less, the more complicated it gets. On the other end, the quartz or electronic clocks have progressed to the point of offering more displays and functions similar than complicated mechanical watches, not only with far fewer parts, but with far greater accuracy, and at more modest prices.
COLLISION COURSE
“Progress, far from consisting in change, depends on retentiveness. When change is absolute there remains no being to improve and no direction is set for possible improvement: and when experience is not retained, as among savages, infancy is perpetual. Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” - George Santayana, (1863 - 1952)
When the quartz crystal watch was invented, the mechanical watch industry almost died. The surviving mechanical watch-makers fell upon hard times. The future had come upon them. Some manufacturers converted to the new technology in a bid for survival. We fast-forward to today’s watch market, where the mechanical watch manufacturers are the industry leaders. The assault of technology obviously failed to completely subvert the traditional mechanical watch. Still new ways are being discovered to make the mechanical watch even more accurate than before.
However, the makers of electro-mechanical hybrid watches haven’t been sleeping, either. Some of these watches receive a radio signal that alerts them to adjust the time (if they are late or fast), synchronizing themselves to a super-accurate atomic clock. Others boast complications that rival their mechanical counterparts, at a fraction of the price with more accuracy. Some of these newer electronic clocks boast a ten-year warranty, attesting to the reliability of the newer electro-mechanical watches.
As electronic microchips become smaller and smaller and more and more reliable and computer display pixels shrink even further, we will see the rise of the computer watch. Beginning versions of this kind of watch/clock already exist in some mobile phones. These clocks/watches will be able to visually mimic all kinds of mechanical complications and functions and provide more information than ever before. If you have downloaded the screensaver(s) mentioned in my previous “The Time Machine”, this should be clear. But, this watch you will be able to wear on your wrist, and adjust itself to the time wherever in the world you travel.
You won’t have to be stuck with a singular display, as you could change from a display that could mimic a Patek Philippe or a Vacheron or whatever watch strikes your fancy, with all the versions available at the touch of a button. Imagine a visually clear tourbillon spinning in 3-D, displaying all of its magnificence in virtual reality, with no moving parts to break or periodically service! It will be vastly more affordable than the real thing.
It is all happening, and the evidence is there. You do have more than one watch, don’t you?